Fischer: Packaged and retail is what drives “the mass market,” for Nintendo

Nintendo of Europe’s MD of marketing and PR, Laurent Fischer, has said that those who believe the end is nigh for packaged software “don’t share the same daily reality as most consumers.”

Speaking with Edge during the 3DS reveal in Europe last month, Fischer said this philosophy is something Nintendo feels strongly about.

“We have been very clearly communicating for a long time that the packaged software or retail market is the one that’s going to drive the mass market, ” he said. “We have never seen any link between growth in the mobile gaming market and decrease in the normal software market. It’s two different markets, two different topics. We couldn’t find any evidence of those two markets being linked.”

Fischer also said that until consumers show a full-on desire for digital distribution as a main source of purchase, retail will remain Nintendo’s top priority.

“It’s the users that decide it,” he said. “Every time we have a new technology or trend coming in, every time people say: ‘That’s the new expectation. It’ll be the mass market in one, maybe two or three years.’ You can bet it’s always wrong.

“Sometimes it’s quicker than anyone expected, sometimes it’s dead before we can even talk further about it, and sometimes it is five or ten years later than anyone planned. None of us can tell that.”